Tag: Featured

I’ve posted about Ableton’s Link before, and I doubt very much that this post will be the last time. In fact it was number 1 on my list of things to expect in 2016. As I said in that post, Link is going to get bigger and bigger and will become a standard in the not too distant future.

But what of MIDI? Well Coding Cod (makers of the excellent LoopTree)are bringing their MIDI Link Sync app soon. In fact, they’ve just announced their BETA programme:

I thought I’d post a few recent tracks of mine which show what I’ve been doing with IK’s iRig Acoustic, which, I have to say, I’m really impressed with. I’ve been using it with my Ukulele and I’m so pleased with the results.

So here’s a few things I’ve made using it. I hope you like them.

I think it shows how clear and distinct the sound is even with a lot of effects used.

In terms of how each track was constructed, here’s the ingredients for each:

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Welcome to 2016! I haven’t posted for a few days and I’ve been spending that time thinking back over 2015 and also wondering where we’ll go (the mobile music community that is) in 2016. I’ve also been reading with some interest the thoughts of other commentators in the field. Tim, from Discchord and John from the Music Apps blog. All good stuff and well worth reading if you haven’t already.

Also, there’s Jakob’s top 10 apps from 2015 (video below), which make for interesting watching.

If you remember from just before Christmas (I know it was a long time ago), but I posted a couple of pieces on my 24 devices and my favourite posts from 2015, but what I didn’t do was post a list of favourite apps of 2015, and there’s a reason for that. What’s the reason? I’ll tell you. The simple reason is that I firmly believe that mobile music isn’t just about apps, and certainly it isn’t about iOS alone.

So what do I think will be important in 2016? Well, here are my predictions (for want of a better word):

Ableton’s Link technology will gain ground and almost certainly become the defacto standard for getting apps to communicate between mobile devices and the desktop. What will be really interesting to see will be if other desktop makers bring Link into their DAWs. Possibly even more important will be if hardware devices bake Link into their own firmware or OSs. That would be a big signal that Ableton have cornered the market in linking devices and software.

3D touch will get bigger. So far I’ve been disappointed with the take up of 3D touch by app makers. For two reasons, the first is that I don’t think that enough app makers have seen the possibilities of 3D touch, secondly, and much more personally, is that I haven’t had the ability to use it as I don’t have a capable device.

We will see more experimental hardware and that can only be a good thing. What do I mean by that? I mean devices like the Mute Synth II, and the Olegtron 4060, which could quite easily have become abandonware, but instead is moving forward with the new module they’ve talked about recently. Apps can take you so far, and then you need to get your hands dirty, and these kinds of devices (and there are plenty more besides the two I’ve mentioned) will let you go further.

Crowdfunded devices will continue to show up and allow start ups to get their ideas into the real world. We’ve seen some great devices come up in 2015. Devices like the Artiphon Instrument 1, and Tangible’s Arpeggio too. There are others of course, but both of these share a very interesting and very relevant feature, relevant to something I mentioned in point 1 above. Both of these will have companion apps to expand their functionality. More of that in a moment.

Crowdfunding start ups will move from product and reward crowdfunding to equity. This has already happened with a couple of companies, Patchblocks being the most notable. But also Chirp.IO, who started with their app, Chirp, and are now doing some really interesting things (more of that another day), but to finish on Chirp, I’m very glad to say that Patrick, their founder is an awesome chap and a friend of mine and PalmSounds. I’d like to see more companies enter the equity space as I think it’s both a very useful way of supporting companies like this and gives users an opportunity to put down hard cash and be a part of the journey.

Going back to point 4, I think that we’re going to see more and more hardware and software (apps or otherwise) connectivity. I don’t just mean patch editors and the link (there’s nothing wrong with those at all though), but apps or software that expands the capabilities of hardware itself and vice-versa, and not just hardware to desktop, but to mobile and even to wearables!

The continued rise of modular. In 2015 we saw some truly ground breaking modular apps arrive on iOS, Audulus 3, zMors Modular, and AnalogKit. I hope to see these all continue to develop and grow in 2016, but I think we’ll see more, and taking some of the previous points on I’d like to see some of the modular hardware makers start to bridge the gap between their formats and mobile. I also think that there’s a big gap for a mobile modular device a bit like the TinySizer, but smaller. I wonder if anyone will enter that space?

Mobile music will continue to split itself into two distinct camps. What do I mean by that? I mean that for the last few years we’ve seen two movements emerge. One typified by point 7, the complex modular environments which are increasingly about developing your own instruments and processes for creating sound and music, and a second around making music more accessible to non-musicians. This second camp is exemplified by apps like Auxy, especially their latest iPhone app. Whilst I’m a keen watcher of both camps my own practice is quite firmly in the second with my SoundLab project (see the tag SLPS for more). I think that this is such an important area, it’s critical to encourage more people to discover their creativity.

Finally, and probably far more out there, I’d like to think that we can see mobile music moving from the device to the wearable and to the IoT device as well. I know that this is less likely, even though we’ve seen a few apps move to the Apple Watch, like Intermorphic’s Wotja, and also djay, Secret Base Design, and also Apogee’s MetaRecorder. It hasn’t caught on in a big way as yet, but I think it should. It is after all, mobile, about as mobile as it gets. As for IoT, this is understandably more difficult, and obviously, far more esoteric too, but I can dream right?

So, there are my thoughts on 2016 for what it’s worth. I wonder if they’ll be proved right or wrong. Probably somewhere in between if the truth be known, and, for that matter, how important is it to be either right or wrong?

I thought I’d end off 2015 with a round up of my favourite posts of the year. Now the easiest thing to do would have been to simply direct you at the featured tagged posts, but that seemed like a bit of cheap way of doing it, so instead here’s a more considered list of my favs this year.

Let’s start off with music as an app, that still is an interesting idea and one that people still struggle with and don’t really get right. This was a great step towards getting it right in my view. Music tech funding is an odd area and one that is hard to understand, this post aimed to try to clear up a few things and ask some questions too. Speaking at Abbey Road Studios was probably one of the most amazing and also important things I did this year and this post is about just that.

But even though that was quite important it doesn’t mean that everything has to be so serious does it? I postedthis in an attempt to make the point that creating music doesn’t have to be so serious and needs to be fun too.

Mobile music has become about apps in the main, so here, in this post I decided to point out a few of the things I thought were important in an app. Just 10 things to consider, but important things and all of it still stands in my view, but I would say that! On a similar note, I had to ask if there were too many synth apps in the iOS world, and, if anything, that question is more salient now than then! If you’re interested you can also read my top 24 apps for 2015, which probably isn’t the list you expect.

Staying with the apps theme for the moment, I thought it was interesting that Korg’s latest two apps were both iPhone versions of existing apps, one from their iPad collection, the iElectribe for iPhone, and of course the iDS-10 for iPhone. This is important. I love that more apps are coming to the iPhone now, it saying something about mobility and the iPad and where the iPad range is heading.

Also on apps, Modular has been big in 2015. First we had AnalogKit modular and then Audulus 3 of course. Modular is not going away and I think both of these apps, and of course zMors modular too are really important. I did ask the question here about whether modular was actually right for mobile. You make up your own minds. Either way I think we’ll see more of this in 2016 especially considering what’s happening in Pd at the moment.

In terms of mobile hardware 3D touch is, for me anyway, a really big thing for mobile music, although it doesn’t seem to have been adopted nearly as much as I’d expected so far and its potential is, in my opinion, huge! Although one notable adoptee is Roli with their Noise 5D app, and I hope that there’ll be lots more soon. I’m hoping that this will change in 2016. But what seems to have happily eclipsed 3D touch is Ableton’s Link technology, which I expect will roll out to even more apps in 2016.

I also expect that we’ll see more crowdfunded (Kickstarter or Indiegogo) products in 2016. Aside from the fact that I’m waiting for a bunch of them myself it seems to be becoming the defacto way to get a good idea going these days. One of the best examples for me in 2015 was the Arpeggio, and I think it’ll do really well as it will connect to its own iOS app.

Finally, one of the most important things I did this year was to help to run the SoundLab Play Space. You can read all of the posts about the Play Space here, but it was amazing to be a part of such a brilliant event and work with such great companies.

So that’s a whistle stop tour of 2015. I’d like to say a quick thank you for everyone who’s read PalmSounds, commented, tweeted etc in 2015. Here’s to an even better and more mobile 2016!

Teenage Engineering PO-16: Which completes the set, and they do work well together. I like the idea of small and well designed hardware. I think that the only thing that TE missed with this series and also the OP-1 was a way to connect and expand the devices with a mobile device. That sounds kind of obvious now, but probably when the OP-1 came out originally it didn’t make that much sense.

Monotron: The original and excellent Monotron I think it would be interesting to see if more synth makers did a Monotron equivalent. What would that look like for Yamaha? For Roland?

Thingamagoop: I’ve got the 2nd edition of the Thingamagoop but of course the new one comes out in 2016 and I’m really keen to see how good it is. I’m tempted, but haven’t ordered one as yet.

BC-16: The rarest of rate micro modular synths. Almost impossible to find but really interesting to play with and a device that gives you an appreciation of modular synthesis and analogue work.

Handera 330: The first of two of my PDA entries. This one is the rarest of them all. Only ran Palm OS4, but it had an SD card and CF card slots onboard.

TRG-Pro: From the same makers, the Pro had a CF card slot and was pretty amazing in its day. Of course it is very good at sending MIDI, and works well with older devices.

Nebulophone: Another Bleep Labs device and a cool and cheap noise maker for having fun.

DS: I included the DS as, pre-iPhone / iOS, it was a great platform for mobile music and of course had the original DS-10 synth.

iRig acoustic: I’ve been really impressed by the iRig acoustic, especially when using it with my Ukulele and a bunch of effects apps.

TouchBoard: I’ve become a fan of the TouchBoard since using it at our SoundLab play space event. I think that the device has a lot more to offer than perhaps anyone has thought about it so far, and I hope to explore that more in 2016.

MuteSynth II: This is an incredible piece of hardware for exploring sounds. I’ve really enjoyed using it and have found it a great way to lose myself in sound design.

Olegtron: Another interesting and very different hardware device. Something that feels like it’s going to start growing into more than just a single device, but I’m not sure where it’ll end up. That’s quite exciting in it’s own right though.

Littlebits: If you wanted a modular experience and eurorack is too expensive, then this is (or so I’m told) a good alternative. It’s also great to learn about how synthesis works.

Ototo: A very underrated device with great expansion through sensors and the ability to play anything, like fruit!

iRig MIDI 2: For connecting iOS and MIDI hardware, this is it for me. Solid and reliable and that’s it.

Molecule synth: Rare, unusual, modular and strange. I’d hoped that this could develop into something and there could’ve been more molecules available, but it’s unlikely I guess now.

Mixtape alpha: Another rare device which is difficult to play and worse to find one these days, but an interesting design and, in it’s own way, quite soothing and pleasant. I like it anyway.

So there’s my list. Not the usual list of hardware you might find on a blog, but a list of things I find interesting sonically and inspiring too. I hope you find it useful.

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And if you’re an Android user then you really want to take a look at this article a video on the Musical Android site about Pd party. Things have really moved forward and it seems that there’s a lot happening in the Pd world and mobile now, especially on Android.

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Olegtron have released a new plug in board for the Olegtron 4060. The new 7-bit plug in module is on their site although there’s now way to order it as yet. It looks pretty cool though and hopefully I can get hold of a copy of it soon.

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http://ift.tt/1mlRAD2Released as a small run by Static Caravan records on white 7″ vinyl now for the first time here’s a digital copy as a free download.Get the SoundCloud app to listen on your iDevice.